In the Shadows of Victory
by theeShadyLady
Summary: The story of CATO! (And Glimmer, Marvel, Clove, foxface, and Peeta (and Katniss Everdeen)!)
1. In the Shadows of Victory

_**A/N- This is a little story I call, "In the Shadows of Victory." Written by me, theeShadyLady. This is District 2's Reaping and the 74th Hunger Games, from Cato's POV. After seeing The Hunger Games movie, for the second time, I started thinking why is Cato, the way he is? What makes him so insanely blood thirsty? So since there was no way to find out what really happened, I made a story up for him. And it goes a like this...**_

_**((DISCLAIMER: I do not own The Hunger Games.))**_

CHAPTER 1: "In the Shadows of Victory"

"Brutus Unger," says Rochelle Diamond, the newest name reader of District 2. I can feel the fight in the air as Brutus —the weakest, most unskilled boy in all of District 2— walks towards the stage. Every boy from age twelve to eighteen waits for the moment to volunteer.

Rochelle must have been warned on how District 2 is about male volunteers, because she starts her next line cautiously. "I now, would like to know... if there are any volunteers for this year's male tribute." Before she even finishes her sentence Brutus runs off the stage, which is a first for District 2. After that, shouts fill the air and there is no way to tell who the first volunteer was, but this is how it always is. This is what I planned for. I push forward dodging the flying fists. Partway through the crowd, someone behind me lands a hard blow in my side, so I bring my elbow back forcefully into his face. The guy falls backwards and hits the ground; no one pays attention to him and the fights continue.

When I'm almost to the stage, I see that I am not the only one who had this idea. Comet, who has always been the closest thing to competition for me, is about to walk up the stage stairs. However, someone grabs him and pulls him back into the hostile crowd. That someone is my older brother, Marcus, and he gives me enough time to lunge toward the stairs and claim my place. I step onto the stage and position myself next to this year's female tribute, Clove Underwood. People see that I am on the stage and the fights suddenly come to a stop; there is no point for them anymore. I feel a wicked joy inside, because I know that I have won. Rochelle smiles looking relieved that the fights are over, "Well, aren't you handsome? What is your name?"

"Cato Moore," I say flashing a winning smile for the cameras. Out of the corner of my eye I see Clove roll her eyes, definitely not a way for her to win over sponsors. I make a mental note of this.

"Sounds good," Rochelle replies, "Now, let's give a big round of applause for our two tributes." The audience reluctantly obeys, but there is jealousy in the eyes of the un-chosen guys. Rochelle and a few peacekeepers lead me and Clove into the District 2 Justice Building. Just before we enter I see Brutus out of the corner of my eye, he's crying, and I can't help but stop to watch.

"I—I'm sorry, father," he sobs, "I couldn't do it."

"You are _not_ my son," his father says coldly. Brutus' mother is standing next to him crying and shaking her head.

"Mother, please forgive me," Brutus pleads. But before she can speak, Brutus' father grabs her arms and says something too quiet for me to hear.

"Keep walking," the peacekeeper angrily says as he pushes me forward.

Clove and I are put in separate rooms to wait for the train and to say goodbye to friends and family.

The door clicks shut and I begin thinking about strategies. However, my thoughts are interrupted by my father walking in. He doesn't say anything, but I know what he is thinking about. He won the 49th Hunger Games and was a mentor for a few years. But after four or five years, he got rotated out because he wasn't able to train a victor. Ever since then, he has always wanted one of his sons to win, probably so he can feel like he doesn't completely fail at teaching. And I am his last chance. Marcus aged out, never once volunteering. And my younger brother, Arson, was killed in the Games four years ago. He was only twelve. And he is the reason my mother will not come say goodbye to me. She still believes that it's my fault that Arson died, just because I didn't volunteer before him.

I live in the shadows of victory and failure, but this year is my year to step into the spotlight.

We stand facing each other and I start to wonder if this is what it was like when he went to his Games. While I am thinking this, my father does something unexpected. He puts a hand on my shoulder and says, "You were always my favorite." Instead of feeling the pride I know he expects me to feel, the only thing I feel is anger. I _hate_ that he'd say that, especially after Arson volunteered just to impress him and I only volunteered for me.

Thankfully, the peacekeepers come in before I say anything that I'd regret. They say that my next visitor is on their way up. I know it's Marcus and so does my father. Even though we still have a couple of minutes left, he leaves without saying anything, but only because he can't stand Marcus.

**~theeShadyLady~**


	2. No Competition

**_A/N- Welcome back to "I.T.S.O.V." it's me, theeShadyLady, the wonderful author of this story. HaHa, yeah. Below is I.T.S.O.V.'s second installment and this is a sort of a transition chapter, so there isn't really a lot of boom-bam-pow action scenes, but I don't think it's mind-numbingly bland, so read on you courageous adventurers, read on! :)_**

**_((DISCLAIMER: I do not own The Hunger Games.))_**

CHAPTER 2: "No Competition"

Immediately as Marcus walks through the door, he starts talking. "I can't believe that you're really going to be in the Hunger Games."

"What happened to your face?" I ask, meaning the gash above his right eye and also the cuts on both of his arms.

"Oh, umm, I let Comet go once you were on the stage and at first he was fine. But once you all went backstage, he knocked down a peacekeeper that wasn't paying attention and stole his knife. And before I realized what was going on he turned around and attacked me with it. But that's not important... what did _he_ say to you?"

"Just that he knows I can win and he told me not to mess up," I lie, not wanting to offend Marcus.

"You're lying, Cato."

"No, I'm not," I lie again. _Marcus knows that our father hates him for not volunteering. But what Marcus doesn't need to know is that he was also disappointed in Arson for dying in the Games. I don't even like knowing. _

Without warning the door swings open and two peacekeepers walk in. "Trains here. Better wrap it up," says the taller of the two.

"Well, I'd wish you good luck," says Marcus apparently having forgotten our conversation, "but we both know you don't need it."

When he says this it brings out the worries that I didn't know I even had. In a moment of childish weakness I ask him, "What if I lose?"

He grabs me by my shoulders, "Cato, you've been training for this since you were seven. You've got this; no competition."

"Thanks, Marcus." I reply recovering from my weak moment. He gives my shoulder a last reassuring squeeze and then is led away by the shorter peacekeeper, as the other one tells me to follow him to the train.

Rochelle is waiting at the Justice Building door and Clove is already with her. Rochelle then takes over the peacekeepers job and leads me and Clove the rest of the way to the train.

Inside the train there are two people that I recognize from previous years' Hunger Games. The 71st and 73nd Games to be exact. "I assume you've met, but in case you haven't..." Rochelle says to me and Clove, "This is Cliff Ferrero and Talia Kane. Cato's mentor will be Cliff. And Talia will be your mentor, Clove." Rochelle glances out the window, blinks a few times as if she doesn't understand something, then turns away and enters the dining car.

"Hey, Cliff," I say sitting across from him.

"How have you been, Cato?" he replies in an emotionless voice.

It's seems strange hearing Cliff talk to me in this way. Because we used to be friends —well, we were occasional sparring partners and neighbors, which is as close to friends as you can get in District Two— until he volunteered himself for the 73rd Games. Nobody thought he'd win; District One reaped the best looking tributes that they had in years. But Cliff proved us all wrong by killing the District One tributes the first day and then winning the Games three days later. It was a bloodbath; on the first day there were twelve tributes killed and he was responsible for seven of them. Then on the fourth day when it was just him and the male from District Four, Cliff lured the other tribute in by faking a leg injury and then when he got close Cliff stabbed him in the heart.

"I'm doing okay," I reply.

"Do you have any questions?"

"Don't talk to me like that!" I say getting fed up with him already.

"Like what?"

"Like you're better than me!"

"Like I'm better? I am better than you! Do you know why? I'll tell you why. Because one of us has already won the Hunger Games, and just to let you know, it wasn't you!" he bites back viciously.

Just as I take a step towards Cliff, prepared for a fight, "Supper!" announces Rochelle after suddenly materializing next to us and making me jump.

Cliff gives me a cold look and then heads for the dining car.

I am surprised to see that table is empty except for a stack of two gold-colored plates set in front of each chair, _because I had expected mountains of food to be waiting for us already_. I choose a seat across from Clove and between Rochelle and Cliff. Once the five of us are settled in our places, five servers walk out of the kitchen car of the train and each of them are holding two golden bowls. One of the serves stands next to me and holds the bowls out motioning for me to choose one.

"What's in them?" I ask expecting the server to answer.

When the server doesn't reply, Rochelle points at one of the bowls. "That one is lamb and dried plum soup and I think the other one is carrot and pea soup."

I see Clove is already scarfing down the carrot soup, so I decide to be different and choose the one with lamb in it. _I prefer protein to vegetables anyway_. The soup isn't that great and I don't really want to eat it, but I do anyway because I know it's good to continuously build up energy until the moment I get into the arena.

Our next course is steak and potatoes with a salad. No one talks as we eat, well no one important, Rochelle babbles on about how wonderful this train is —I mean we get, we've all been on a train before— and she talks about how lucky we are to be visiting the capital.

Next the servers bring out slices of cake and when my server tries to place a plate in front of me I wave him away. Clove, who is just about to start eating hers sees that I'm not having any, so she picks her plate up and shoves it back into the server's hands.

"Well," I stretch, "I'm going to go watch the replays of the Reapings."

Even though I get up before anyone else, Cliff somehow reaches the television before me and has already started playing the Reapings. District 1 is first, Marvel and Glimmer —typical District 1 names— I'm not too impressed by them. They're pretty weak looking, but I remind myself that looks can be deceiving.

"I don't think they are even worth forming an alliance with," says Clove in a stuck up tone of voice.

"Doesn't District 1 usually team up with District 2?" asks Rochelle blankly.

"Yes," replies Talia, "but I think Clove is right. I think they'll just drag you two down."

Before I can disagree, Cliff cuts in, "What kind of advice is that? If we go against District 1, we will lose nearly all of our sponsors before the end of day one in the arena." No one dares to argue with him.

District 2 comes on the screen; Clove is reaped and when Rochelle asks for volunteers and Clove shakes her head indicating she isn't willing to give up her place as tribute —District 2 girls are much more civil than District 2's boys. Next, Brutus is reaped and this time when Rochelle asks for volunteers the cameras flash to the crowd of possible tribute all shouting 'I volunteer'. The cameras focus on Rochelle again and she announces 'Cato Moore'. After that, a clip of me lunging towards the stage and mounting the stage as tribute —as usual none of the fighting is shown and our District looks much tamer than it really is.

As we watch the rest of the district Reapings, nobody else really stands out... until District 11. The female tribute must be twelve —even though she looks much younger than that— but that's not what catches everyone's eye. It's the male tribute. He is massive... maybe twice my size.

"Maybe we should think about forming an alliance with him," I suggest.

"With District 11?!" Clove rolls her eyes, "Why?"

"Quiet, will discuss alliances later, the next district is on," orders Talia.

"It's just 12," mutters Clove.

Another twelve year old girl —not my favorite type of tribute, but odds are someone else will kill her. _Maybe even one of the District 1 tributes_, I laugh to myself.

"I volunteer," a hidden voice from the television shouts.

Suddenly a girl, maybe sixteen, is shown on the screen. I can tell that she only volunteered so that the other girl wouldn't go to the Games. But still there is something about her that warns me that her name is one that I'll need to remember and keep an eye on. _Katniss Everdeen_. Next the male tribute is reaped and he is far off from special. He looks strong enough, but he looks like he's going to cry. As I watch him hold back his tears, I notice something that I don't think anyone else does, the boy glances over at Katniss Everdeen and for some unknown reason I start thinking that he is crying for _her_.

"Look!" exclaims Clove, running to the window.

I follow her to the window and I see the shining, multicolored buildings of the capital gradually encircling us. _This is it._

**~theeShadyLady~**

_**A/N- P.S. I'd like to thank "swishyla" for the first review of this here story. :)**_


	3. Cato Moore

**_A/N- theeShadyLady here, coming to you straight from fanfiction(.net)! This is a longer chapter, well longer than the last ones, I'm quite sure you'll all enjoy it though. So read it up!_**

**_((DISCLAIMER: I do not own The Hunger Games.))_**

CHAPTER 3: "Cato Moore"

I stand awkwardly with my legs crossed as my stylist looks me over. It's cold in the room and the fact that I'm only wearing boxers makes it feel even colder. I try to distract myself by thinking about how great it will feel when I win the Games. But it doesn't work I can still feel my stylist scrutinizing every inch of me. My stylist is a man named Jase, who has bright red chin-length hair, unnaturally pale skin, and about eight piercings decorating his face. I look down at my toes that are wiggling from nervousness as Jase paces one last slow circle around me.

"Okay," announces Jase in his unusually high pitched voice, without explanation he turns and hurries out of the room. I take Jase's absence as permission for me to relax. I tread over to the wall where Jase's assistant had told me to leave my clothes and pull my pants back on. Feeling much more comfortable, I return back to the middle of the floor where I was previously standing and sit down.

Before a minute has even passed, Jase is back and as soon as he sees me he seems slighted. "Stand up," he commands, "Why are you wearing those? Take them off!" And even though it's hard to take him seriously because of his accent, I do my best to obey him and retake off my pants. Jase smirks and holds out a bronze suit of armor that is going to be my costume for the Parade later today.

Including Jase, it took three people an entire hour to strap on my armor. Not even Clove's costume took that long to put on. Now the both of us are standing in the District 2 chariot behind a set of large closed doors waiting for District 1 to begin the parade.

"Are you scared, yet?" I ask Clove, trying to make this situation a little less awkward. She has hardly said a word to me since we arrived at the Capitol.

"No," she pauses and then gives me a sideways look, "I bet you're glad that Jase engraved those muscles into your armor. Maybe a few of the sponsors will believe they're real."

"Now, why you got to be like that?" I ask in a sarcastic tone. And before she gets the chance to argue, there are loud shouts of anticipation from the other side of the door and one of our horses gets nervous and lurches forward, knocking Clove off balance.

"Cato!" she shrieks, grabbing for my hands as she starts to fall. But I pull both my hands away before she can reach them and she ends up landing on her back near the wheels of the chariot. Talia immediately rushes in to help her back to her feet.

"What is the matter with you?" Talia says hopping up next to me, after she has made sure Clove is okay. "What if one of the sponsors had seen that?"

"It's not my fault she doesn't know how to stand."

Talia reaches out and smacks me across the face, "You could have killed her!"

"No! She fell; I didn't push her; I'm not the one driving the cart; I just stood here!"

"Ughh!" Talia throws her hands up in frustration, then steps down off the cart and starts fussing over Clove again. There is some blood on her mouth, which Talia attempts to wipe away, but despite her efforts Clove's mouth is still stained a deep red.

District 1's chariot starts to move, "Get up here, Clove!" I say sharply. She just glares at me, so I reach down grab her by one arm and drag her back up onto the chariot. Since Clove's stylist is nowhere to be found, Jase quick climbs up next to us and adjusts Clove's armor and hair before we leave.

"Good luck. You two will look absolutely glamorous," smiles Jase.

As we enter through the door the crowd goes crazy. They scream our names and I can hardly hear myself think. The two of us are on every screen, so I smile and wave to the audience; eating up every glorious moment of their attention. Suddenly the crowd starts gasping and I notice all the pictures have changed on the screens. They now show Katniss Everdeen... and the other District 12 tribute. _They look they're on fire. That can't be right_. I twist around to look, which is difficult to do wearing a full suit of bronze armor on a moving chariot. At first I don't see anything, but then I notice just coming through the doors is what looks like a large ball of fire. I nudge Clove's arm, "look."

She looks back for a few seconds, then faces forward and says under her breath, "I hope they burn."

I look around again and see the two of them are still on every screen. _It's been too long, by now the cameras should be on a different District; any other District_. I start thinking about what Clove just said and I start thinking the same thing. _Burn Katniss, burn_.

After the parade Clove and I wait for our mentors and stylists to meet up with us. Rochelle is already in the building and she is telling us how great we looked and saying how everyone loved us. Which Clove and I both know are all complete lies. The crowd did love us until District 12 screwed everything up with their little fire act.

As I am ignoring Rochelle, I start looking around at the other competitors. And I see Katniss in her stupid black costume with her hair all tied up like she's something special. _I hate her_. When she sees me looking at her, I glare at her with a ferocity that I didn't even know I had until know. The group of people around her notice my staring and they all motion to each other that it's time to move away.

"Hmm," say Rochelle trying to draw back my attention, "It seems to be suppertime. Let's get a move on." She then leads me, Cliff, Talia, Jase, and Clove's stylist to the floor of the Training Center that District 2 always stays on. When we exit the glass elevator on our floor I realize that our stylists aren't allowed to eat with the rest of us because they leave us at the first door, after being shooed away by Rochelle.

I wake up in the morning and notice my blankets are not even on my bed anymore; I had another nightmare. After taking a minute to straighten my thoughts and prepare for the day, I get up to head down to the Training Center. Nobody else seems to be around so I figure I'll just go there myself. Just as the elevator doors are nearly closed somebody sticks their hand between them. It's Clove.

"Hi," I say.

"Hi."

Silence.

We walk in to the Training Center Gymnasium; silence. We are the last ones here, well, besides 12.

"Okay," says the instructor apparently not willing to wait any longer, "today you will learn a variety of skills. Find out what you're good at and then focus on getting rid of your weaknesses. Remember to pay attention to survival skills, because exposure can kill just as easily as a knife." _Yeah, right._

The rest of the day goes by in a blur, mainly because Clove and I excel at every task. Well, Clove couldn't hit the bow and arrow target if her life depended on it, which it just might. When we are finished with training I go through a mental list some of the tributes I noticed during the day, remembering their skills and weaknesses.

_1- Marvel... can handle a knife well enough, strong, no noticeable weakness. Glimmer... runs fast, has zero hand-eye coordination, will look weak to sponsors._

_3- Ryland... very good at taking things apart, which will be useful because I have a plan, but isn't good at much else._

_5- Lacey... runs fast, even faster than Glimmer which is saying something, but she doesn't seem like a threat._

_11- Thresh... strong, fast, accurate with weapons, deadly, zero weaknesses. Rue... climbs things, but also isn't a threat._

_12- what's his name... surprisingly strong, can paint tree patterns on his arms —wow, so impressive— but that's about it. Katniss Everdeen... can set traps, throws a knife decently, but stayed away from all the other weapons and running events—which is strange..._

"Cato Moore," says an automated voice that pulls me back to reality; reality being me and Clove waiting outside the Gymnasium for our private sessions with the Gamemakers.

"What was that?"

"They've been calling your name for a few minutes now," replies Clove nonchalantly.

_Ugh._ I walk in to the room frustrated. One of the Gamemakers stands up to address me, "Cato Moore, we've been waiting."

"Yes and I'm sorry for the inconvenience I caused," I say sincerely.

The Gamemaker waves his hand indicating that I may start and then goes to sit back down. _Okay,_ I take a deep breath, I raise my arm signaling the people standing by in the room to start coming towards me —before the session if we needed extra people for our session we had to ask the one of the Gamemakers to bring them in. The first one comes at me fists up; I knock him out easily with one punch. Two more come and the first one I block his first two swings and then kick in the stomach knocking him over, the second one comes in for a roundhouse kick but I grab his leg and pull him off balance. I see five or six more are headed towards me, all of them armed, so I grab a sword and go on the defensive. The sound of metal on metal comes to a halt after three or four minutes because I have disarmed the last of the "attackers" and my session is complete.

"Well, Cato Moore, that was quite impressive. You may go now," says the same Gamemaker that had spoken previously. As I walk out the exit door I see Clove is just coming in the entrance. And I hear the Gamemaker say, "Clover Underwood?"

"Yes," Clove replies and then the door behind me clicks shut and I can't hear anymore.

Everybody involved with District 2 is gathered around our television watching the scores for each tribute get announced. So far only District 1 has gone so far; Marvel received a seven and Glimmer got a nine. "Cato Moore, tribute of District Two," the announcer finally says, "with a score of score of ten."

"That's not that great, I'll probably beat it," boasts Clove.

"I thought you were just throwing knives?" I mutter.

"The targets were moving!"

"Clove Underwood of District Two," the television interrupts, "with a score of eight."

"WHAT!? No! That can't be right!" Clove is hysterical. "An eight?!"

While we wait for Clove to calm down, most of the other Districts scores come in. I make sure to watch the scores for the tributes I made note in the Gymnasium. Ryland from 3 got an eight, which of course pisses Clove off even more. Lacey from District 5 got a four; she must be going for the underdog approach, because I know for a fact she should have gotten at least an eight. The little girl from 11 received a seven and the guy, Thresh, also got a seven.

Clove stops in the middle of her rant, "_HE_ got an eight?! How—What—Ugh, that isn't even fair, he's from 12!"

We all ignore her relentless screams because next on the screen is something Clove hasn't noticed yet, an eleven. Awarded to Katniss Everdeen. This is enough to send me into a fit of rage. _An eleven! What can she do, that beats what I did?! I'm gonna kill her! She's dead! I'm going to cut her to pieces!_

"Cato!" screams Clove. I blink a few times and look around. The couch is knocked over and I am on floor holding Clove down with my hands around her neck.

"I-I'm sorry," I jump up, running my hands through my hair in confusion. _I don't know what happened, I don't remember anything after seeing that eleven on the screen. _"I think I'm gonna go to bed. Yeah, I need to sleep."

**~theeShadyLady~**

**_A/N- I know that this chapter gets sort of fast paced towards the end, but I didn't want you all to be like "let's get this story moving already."_**


	4. There's Always A Choice

**_A/N- I know it's been two months since I last updated I.T.S.O.V., I didn't mean to take that long, had some writer's block issues. But here is Chapter 4 , finally finished. Hope you all like it. (And you will notice there is some direct quoting of Peeta and Caesar (from _****_The Hunger Games_****_ by Suzanne Collins) for Peeta's interview, I just thought I'd mention it so no one thinks I am trying to claim work that is not mine.)_**

**_((DISCLAIMER: I do not own The Hunger Games.))_**

CHAPTER 4: "There's Always a Choice"

I wake up to Clove knocking on my room door, "Cato?... Cato?... CATO!"

"What do you want?" I snap back.

"I can hear you screaming from down the hall," she complains.

"Screaming?" _Since when do I scream in my sleep?_

"Yeah, you're driving me insane and I can't sleep because of it."

Quietly I slide out of bed and crack open my door. "Go away, Clove," I say through the opening, using my most threateningly calm voice. She turns and stomps away mumbling something I can't understand.

I check my clock and see that it's still early, but I can't go back to sleep. I can't go back to that dream. So I decide I might as well use this time to go down to the Training Center and get in some extra practice. I tiptoe towards the elevator still only wearing the pajama pants that I was sleeping in.

As I spin one of the throwing knives in my hand I think about my father and what he must have felt like during his time at the training center. But eventually I realize that I honestly don't care what it was like for him and I let the thoughts go from my mind. After a couple more turns of my knife, I stop to trace the blade with my thumb. Finally, I grip the handle, bring the knife back, and then thrust my arm forward releasing the knife at just the right moment. It hits the moving target straight in the forehead. I repeat this action about twenty or so times. Apparently hearing the commotion one of the Training Center watchmen comes in to see what's going on.

"You are not allowed in here. Do you even know how late it is, boy?" asks the man.

"I was just leaving." I say walking past him not wanting any trouble. But he grabs my arm.

"Where do you think you're going?" I whip around angrily and sock him in the left shoulder. He releases my arm to rub his injury. I try to leave again, but the watchman grabs my wrist and twists it behind my back, immobilizing me. "I've got my eye on you, Two," he whispers, then he shoves me forward and releases my arm.

Once I'm in the elevator I notice I can see the entire span of the Capitol, but since it's dark all I see are millions of multicolored lights shining throughout the city. And when the doors open at my floor, I feel so oddly mesmerized by the scene out the window that I allow the doors to close up again. I feel the elevator rise up a few levels and then come to a stop. I glance back to see who is coming in. It's Lacey from 5.

"Hi," she whispers as she decides what button to press. "How come you didn't pick a floor?"

"I don't have anywhere to go."

Lacey doesn't respond she just clicks on the elevator button with a star on it. And instantly the elevator shoots upward. I glance back at her expecting her to ask about my shirtlessness, but she doesn't. She just sits down on the floor next to my feet.

"What are you doing?" I ask shuffling away from her.

She doesn't answer. Out of the corner of my eye I notice the elevator doesn't stop at floor 12, which is the top floor. When it does stop we are on top of the roof, the doors don't open though.

"So, why are we up here?" I say still looking out at the city.

"Why not? It looks better up here doesn't it?"

"Yeah," I smile. But suddenly I realize that it probably isn't the manliest thing to be staring out mesmerized by something as stupid as city lights. So, I tread backwards and sit on the floor by the elevator doors.

"How come you volunteered for the Games?" Lacey asks quietly.

"What?"

"I saw you volunteer on the replay of the Reapings... In 5 we never volunteer."

"It's considered an honor for us to be in the Games. In 2 we start training for them when we're seven. And we all volunteer when we're eighteen, well, most of us volunteer every year, but usually only the eighteen year olds actually get to go."

"I don't get it. Why would you volunteer to die?"

"2 usually wins."

"Usually."

"Yeah," I shrug.

"Aren't you scared you won't be able to do it?" she says, still looking out the windows.

"Do what?"

"Kill somebody."

"No, that'll be easy. I'll just pretend that any tribute I kill is the one that killed my brother..." _I shouldn't have said that_.

"Your brother?... What was his name?" she asks, looking at me now.

"Arson. He was in the Games a few years ago. He was one of the final two tributes. And the other tribute snuck up on him while he was asleep, forced him to his knees, put his hands on both sides of Arson's head, and twisted." I feel myself start to shake so I squeeze my fists into a ball and bite the inside of my lip.

Lacey scoots backwards towards me. "It's not your fault, Cato." She says this like it's something she knows for a fact and I find myself wanting to believe her. I never thought it was my fault, or at least I didn't think I did, until she said this.

"I know."

"I could never kill anyone," she says looking down at her hands.

"You probably won't have a choice."

"There's always a choice."

Suddenly the elevator starts dropping and I see that level 1's button is flashing. So we both stand up and Lacey quick pushes the buttons for levels 5 and 2, before the elevator can pass them.

The elevator comes to a halt at level 5 and the doors slide open. "Good luck, Cato," she whispers as she walks out the doors not looking back.

I walk back to my room feeling slightly confused about what just happened in the elevator. I mean I don't know why I told her everything I did. Over tired I guess.

Once I'm in my room I stretch out on my bed and instantly fall asleep.

"Cato, wake up!" Rochelle's voice echoes through my head. "Come on. Up, up, up!" I feel something squeeze my shoulder. I swat at it. Then jump up, realizing that _someone_ touched me.

"What are you doing in my room?!"

"You have to get ready for your interview," Rochelle smiles.

"Get out!" I shout attempting to cover myself from her lingering glances.

"Jase is on his way up," she says still staring.

The twenty-four of us sit in front of the stage as Caesar Flickerman hypes the audience up for our interviews. First to interview is Glimmer. And she struts across the stage acting like she owns it and trying too hard to look good. It'll win her some sponsors though.

"Next up we have Marvel Young from District 1!" Caesar announces. Marvel jogs up excitedly pumping his arms in the air. His over eccentric attitude bothers me and I do my best to tune him out.

I tune Marvel out so well that I also miss most of Cloves interview, the only part I actually hear is Caesar ending her interview saying "Thank you, Clove Underwood! Also from District 2, is Cato Moore!" I unclench my fists and walk confidently up to the chair next to Caesar. When I sit down I make sure to lean slightly back in my seat to show that I am completely comfortable (even though I'm really not).

"Okay, Cato, let's start off with an easy question." Caesar pauses, pretending to think, "How many times have you volunteered for the Hunger Games?"

"Every year since I was twelve, so seven times."

"That's quite brave of you. Impressive even... Something else that's pretty impressive is the ten you scored in individuals... But there was one score better, but I bet you already knew that."

"Yes, I knew," I respond calmly.

Caesar addresses the audience. "An eleven is actually extremely rare and has only been scored once before in the entire history of the Hunger Games." He turns back to me, "So the question is, Cato, what are your thoughts on Katniss Everdeen from District 12? Does she really have a shot?"

_Katniss Everdeen really?! This is MY interview. We not supposed to talk about her, we are supposed to talk about me!_

"Well, Caesar," I lean forward in my seat, "I believe everyone has a shot at winning the Games, but not everyone has the determination to make the win theirs." The audience cheers and whistles at this comment.

"Now that is what we love about you District 2 tributes! You have the spirit of the Hunger Games inside you!"

Caesar waits for the audience to go quiet and then asks me, "Now, we all saw at the Reaping that you volunteered to take Brutus Unger's place. Is he a friend of yours?"

"Yes," I lie, "he told me at school once that he really didn't want to be in the Hunger Games?"

"Oh? Why ever not?" Caesar blinks.

"His brother already won it and he was thought that he wasn't strong enough to win. And he didn't want to take any honor away from his family. So, I told him if he was reaped I would make sure to volunteer for him." _Well, the part about his brother is true at least._

Caesar put his hand to his chest, "That is a great thing you did. But aren't you afraid of what will happen if you lose."

"No, because there is no chance of that happening. I'm fast, accurate, deadly... and I have a plan."

A buzzer goes off.

We both stand and Caesar grabs my arm and holds it up, "Cato Moore, everyone."

The rest of the interviews go by quickly since none of them are worth my attention. That is until Katniss Everdeen's interview. I only pay attention because of how stupid she acts. Caesar asks her about her favorite thing at the Capitol, and what is her answer? The lamb stew. _Lamb stew! It wasn't even that good._ Then they talk about her stupid parade costume and of course then she has to twirl around to show off the dress she's wearing now, which makes me want to vomit. At the end they talk about her sister that she volunteered for and how she's going to try to win for her, and blah, blah, blah. And, finally her interview is over, but the downside to this is that what's his name is next to be interviewed. And I, out of pure annoyance and hate, tune him out because there is no way he'll have anything interesting to say.

And I'm right, until the end of what's his name's interview when Caesar asks a certain question.

"So," says Caesar, "is there a girlfriend waiting for you back home?"

What's his name shakes his head no.

"Handsome lad like you. There must be some special girl. Come on, what's her name?" Caesar implores.

"Well," sighs what's his name, "there is this one girl. I've had a crush on her ever since I can remember." I roll my eyes, _pathetic_. "But I'm pretty sure she didn't know I was alive until the reaping." The crowd must be buying it because they all sigh empathetically.

"She have another fellow?" Caesar continues to question.

"I don't know, but a lot of boys like her."

Caesar leans forward, "So, here's what you do. You win, you go home." _As if I'll let that happen._ "She can't turn you down then, eh?"

Strangely what's his name looks sad about this comment, "I don't think it's going to work out. Winning... won't help in my case."

Caesar is taken aback, "Why ever not?"

"Because...because...she came here with me." The crowd gasps and everyone, including me and the other tributes, turn to look at Katniss Everdeen, whose face is bright red. "Thank you," what's his name chokes out finishing his own interview. As he goes to sit down a picture of him and Katniss Everdeen appears on the big screen behind Caesar, and even after the anthem has played and we are all beginning to file out the door headed back to our rooms the picture stays there and I can't stand it. I feel my anger level rising inside me, so as soon as we are off the elevator I hurry to my room and lock the door before I do something I'll regret, again.

"Clove, off to bed. It's getting late and we have a big big day tomorrow." Rochelle chirps as she ushers her into her separate room. This is the last night before the games start and I know I won't be able to sleep at all because of it. So I wait in my room to hear Rochelle's high heeled shoes retreat down the hallway to her own room. I don't exactly know where I am going, but I find myself sneaking into the elevator and selecting the button with the star on it.

But before the elevator can make even the slightest movement upwards, the first floor button lights up causing the elevator to drop. The door slides open to reveal Glimmer looking completely sloshed.

"Hi, Cato!" she exclaims as she stumbles through the doors. "I saw the elevator was on 5. I-I hoped it was you, but maybe Clove... ugh, not Clove." She then throws herself forward and attempts to kiss me, but I push her away. She hits the elevator wall giggling weirdly.

"You're drunk."

"I like wine... Want some?!" she waves a bottle in my face but loses her grip on it and the bottle drops to the floor and shatters. "Noooo!" she screams falling to her knees trying to pick up the pieces. _As if that will do anything_. As I watch her fumble around on the floor the thought that keeps running through my mind is I can't believe I have to team up with this mess of a girl.

"Get up, Glimmer," I say reaching down to help her.

"Don't touch me!" she's crying now. So I lift her up by her arms and half-drag her back to her room. She leans on her door trying to get open it. When she finally manages to force it open she twists around, catches me off guard, and kisses me (it's technically only a half kiss because she's too drunk to hit my mouth full on.) "I'm gonna kill you one day," she says sleepily.

"Cato," calls Jase in his high pitched Capitol accent. I stand up straighter for him to examine my arena clothes.

"It's a little tight," I complain pulling at my shirt.

Jase rolls his eyes and flips back his red hair, "It's supposed to be tight. Hence the phrase 'form-fitting'. Also it makes you look better to the sponsors. Now, hurry up we need to get on the hovercraft."

Jase hands me the jacket that I'm allowed to wear in the arena and then the two of us walk out of the door and there is a ladder directly in front of me. As soon as Jase and I take hold of the ladder an electrical current paralyzes the two of us and pulls us up into the hovercraft.

Once we are inside expect the ladder to release us, but it doesn't. A short ugly woman with blue-green hair and yellow eyes marches up to me and says "This won't hurt. It's just a tracking device that we'll be using to monitor you and all the other tributes throughout the Hunger Games." She then picks up a large needle from a table nearby and presses it into my left arm. The pain is worse than I would ever have expected but I refuse to make a sound, partly because I'm still being held by the ladder's electrical current.

When Jase and I are released from the ladder's grip we are told by the ugly woman to take a seat. Clove and her stylist are already occupying two of the five seats and two Capitol looking people are in two of the other ones. So Jase motions for me to take the last one, which I gladly do suddenly realizing I am not a fan of flying, well hovering.

"This is where I'm supposed to wish you good luck," declares Jase.

"Go ahead, then."

"Cato, we both know you don't need it." He puts his hands on my shoulders. "I am not allowed to bet, but if I were my money would be on you." And with that the glass tube that will bring me up to the Hunger Games arena opens up.

The platform inside starts to rise the moment I step into the tube, Jase hold up his pointing and his middle finger at an angle. Which I am surprised by because I wouldn't have thought that someone from the Capitol would know District 2's sign for 'until we meet again'. I nod back in reply and that is my last sight of the real world.

**~theeShadyLady~**

**_A/N- Review. _****Review****_. _****REVIEW****_. Please. Thank you. :)_**


	5. The Real Lover Boy

**_A/N- Hello, fellow fictioners! This is theeShadyLady updating my story I.T.S.O.V. :)_**

**_((DISCLAIMER: I do not own The Hunger Games.))_**

CHAPTER 5: "The Real Lover Boy"

My stomach is in knots as the count ticks down. _I shouldn't be here. I should have just stayed home, like Marcus. It's not too late, I could step off the platform now and end this. _A gong sounds. "Let the 74th Annual Hunger Games Begin!" _No turning back now._

I sprint forward off the platform towards the metal cornucopia in the middle of the arena. But I'm not looking for supplies, I'm looking for targets. And so are Glimmer, Marvel, and Clove. We make a half circle around the mouth of the cornucopia to guard most of the supplies from the other tributes.

The other tributes are headings straight for us and Katniss Everdeen is at the head of the charge, but I can't do anything about it. Ryland is running at our group hoping for us to provide refuge and I need to make sure that we all stay true to our alliance, because Glimmer isn't acting very welcoming. I block her with my arm and let Ryland pass. A look of pure relief washes across his face as he rushes by us.

Glimmer doesn't seem to mind too much that I interfered with her kill because the moment I take my arm off her she lunges forward and attacks the tribute that was following Ryland. When I turn back to see what is happening to Katniss Everdeen, I see that she is already running away from the cornucopia. "Kill her, Clove!" I scream. Just as I finish saying these words, I see a knife hurdling towards Katniss Everdeen, but she adjusts at the last second and the knife embeds itself in her backpack.

"You missed?!"

"Well..."

"She was right in front of you!"

"Cato!" she whines.

"Go find her!" I order turning away from her.

"I'm a little busy!" she screams at me, which is actually her equivalent to a cry for help. I whip around in time to see the girl from 6 jumps on her back. Clove grabs the girl by her hair and pulls her forward over her shoulder. Then pins the girl on to the ground and jams the knife into her stomach, however, this act causes the boy from 6 to run at her as well. I step forward and punch him in the side of the head and he falls over like a practice target. Before I can take another step to finish the boy off, Clove throws herself at the ground and stabs the guy in the side, slowly twisting her knife inside him. The boy screams for about two deafening minutes and then quiets as his life drains away.

She doesn't seem shaken at all by this last kill. And as the two of us look around we see that the only people left at the cornucopia are the people in our alliance, everyone else is either dead or has scattered.

"Where's Marvel?" Glimmer says spinning around in a panic. "MARVEL!"

"Maybe one of the other tributes killed him," Clove smirks viciously.

"Don't say that!"

"Why? Are you going District 12 on us?"

"NO! He's my brother!" After sees this I imagine that all of Panem just gasped at this revelation, except of course District 1. Especially since I am quite sure that their last names aren't the same.

"Okay, don't kill me," says a voice from inside the cornucopia.

"Marvel!" screams Glimmer running towards the voice. "Wait, what is _he_ doing here?"

"He's gonna help us kill Katniss." _That better not be what's his name._

It is, of course.

I must look even angrier than I feel because Marvel is now partially blocking what's his name.

"Cato, just listen to what he has to say."

I bite the inside of my cheek and nod, "Fine. Let's hear it, Lover Boy."

"Don't call me that. I don't love her." He has my attention, partially. "I just said that to get Katniss to trust me. And it worked." He smiles in a condescending way. "She told me that she is going to stay by water. Which means she'll be at the lake."

"She ran the opposite direction." I point out, trying to catch him in a lie.

"She's going to circle back in the night and find a cave to hide in, if there is one."

"Isn't _she_ going to notice you're gone?"

"Nope, she thinks I'm allied with Thresh."

I walk away from Marvel and Lover Boy to talk to Clove.

"I don't think we can trust him," Clove points out right away.

"We can just use him to find Katniss and then kill him as soon as that's done."

"You know, I don't get how Katniss believes he would leave her if he claimed to be so in love with her," Glimmer cuts into our conversation. _I like the way she thinks. _"Cato, you should ask him."

I turn around to find Lover Boy standing right behind me.

"I told her you would all believe that I would never leave her, so it'd best for us to be separate." _That actually makes sense._

"Fine," I glare at Marvel, "he can stay."

The six of us sort through the supplies in the cornucopia. We mostly find food. At first it was just a couple bags of crackers here and a few packs of dried meat there. But then farther in the cornucopia we start finding huge jugs of water, large bags of apples, and crates of random foods. We also find an overwhelming amount of weaponry. There are knives of varying sizes which Clove and I take the majority of, a sword and some javelins that Marvel takes, and a silver bow and arrow that Glimmer claims. Ryland and Lover Boy take the last few knives. There are also a couple pairs of night vision binoculars, three nets, a crate filled with torches, and some plastic sheets. But since there is no point in carrying all that with us, we set it all in another pile next to our food stash.

Finally, it start's getting dark so the six of us roll out the sleeping bags we found and prepare for the night. But since I was elected for first the first shift of night watch, I don't let myself get too comfortable. As the anthem plays I find myself trying to figure out what Lover Boy's angle is. But then I decide it doesn't really matter, because even if he is going to try and kill us, we out number him five to one. And I am the farthest person from him. The artificial sky is now lit up by the faces of today's deaths. The girl from 3 (who I'm pretty sure was the girl Glimmer killed), the boys from 4 and 5, the tributes from 6 that Clove killed, both tributes from seven. _That's seven tributes dead so far._ Also there is the boy from 8, both tributes from 9, and lastly the girl from 10. _Eleven people killed and I am not responsible for a single one. Not good._

"Ryland? Ryland!" I tap him with my foot.

"What?" he says sleepily.

"Get up," I whisper and he shoots me an angry look, so I kick him a little harder. "We have work to do."

"It's the middle of the night," he complains rolling over.

"Exactly, no one will be able to see us."

Ryland sits up, digs a knife out of his pocket, and then both of us slowly wander away from the rest of our sleeping group. Once we're a ways away Ryland starts slowly dragging his feet across the ground.

"What are you doing?" He stops and taps the ground with his toe, but doesn't answer me. He drops to his knees and digs his knife into the ground at an angle, wiggles it around in a circle, and out pops a little metal sphere. "How'd you find it?" I question him.

"You just feel for little divots in the ground."

The two of us end up spending a couple hours looking for the metal spheres and end up finding over one hundred of them. It takes about four trips but we eventually get them all carried over to the cornucopia. Ryland then draws an intricate line with circles drawn in various places in the dirt from our pile of food to about 20 yards out. Then he lays the spheres all over the ground surrounding the pile except where the circles that he drew are. As he places them, he instructs me to dig holes the same size as the spheres.

When both of us are finished with our tasks, Ryland goes around to each sphere, puts one hand on top of it, one hand on the bottom, and twists. After that he shakes it and places it in the hole I dug for it.

"Fill those with dirt but be careful, you only have about a minute before it activates. And make sure that no one can tell that there was a hole there."

I do as he says despite my hatred of being ordered around by him. And even though I'm feeling a little panicked at the thought that I could blow up at any moment I force myself to dawn a straight face for the all-seeing cameras as I work.

Once we are finished and are about to collapse into our sleeping bags, Marvel calls me over to him.

"Do you know what this is?"

I gave him a blank look as he holds out the two folded up pieces of clear plastic that we found in the cornucopia earlier. He hands me one of the pieces of plastic and as I examine it closer I see that it's not plastic. It's really fine, clear, chain-mail. "What's it for?"

Ryland rolls his eyes and then takes his 'cloth' by one of the corners and it unfolds, revealing that it's some type of suit. "It's called Iron Skin. You just put on under you clothes and nothing can hurt you."

"Nothing?"

"Nothing."

At this point I'm pretty sure he's kidding, but I have to test it. I tread quietly into the back of the cornucopia, which is completely dark, and put on the armor. Then I come back holding one of my knives. "Stab me."

"What? No!" Ryland quickly backs away from me.

"Why not?"

"If I try to stab you, that's an excuse for you to kill me."

"Fine, go put your armor on."

A few minutes later Ryland is back, knife in hand. "Okay," he says psyching himself up. And then lunges at me holding the knife with both hands he hits my chest. There is a sound of metal hitting metal, yet I feel nothing.

With my hand I feel the spot where Ryland hit me; the armor isn't damaged at all.

"Just whatever you do don't let anyone hit your face, there's no armor there." Ryland warns.

"We probably shouldn't let everyone else know about these."

"That's why I waited to tell you about them," says Ryland quietly, "Clove would've made me give her my suit if she knew about it." For a brief second I question why he choose to give me the extra armor, but then I realize he is probably just trying to make me like him as much as possible (and I'd kill him if I found out without him telling me.)

"Cato!"

"Yes... Glimmer?" I answer in a haze blinking the sleep from my eyes.

"Who is _she_?!"

"Clove?"

"I know who Clove is! I mean the girl sitting next to you!" Out of the corner of my eye, I see a girl that is too tan to be Clove. And when I turn my entire head, I see it's the girl from 4. And since she's from 4 that means she's a career and we really can't kill her without losing _a lot_ of sponsors.

"Soo when did you get here?" I ask her awkwardly.

"Umm, an hour ago maybe... I—"

"Wait, so you just sat next to me—us—while I—we—slept." I say hurrying to my feet.

"Yeah, I didn't want to wake you." She says aloud still sitting. But then she stands and leans closer to me and says this next part in a whisper that only I can hear. "You're cute when you sleep." My eyes widen and I walk as casually as I can over to Glimmer to get away from her. The girl starts asking questions about our plans and what she missed.

"What?" I question Glimmer because she looks ready to go off at any second.

"You were flirting with her!"

"No, I wasn't!" I say genuinely confused and the only answer I get is a punch in the stomach.

"Oww!" she screams clutching her fist causing everyone to stop talking and look at us.

"I know," I smile crookedly at her motioning to my chest, "muscles of steel."

"More like iron," coughs Ryland and I give him a glare that could kill a small animal.

"Hey, do you see that?" District 4 cuts in pointing to smoke coming from a ways in the woods. Everyone else sees it too, but they turn to me for guidance.

"Ryland."

"Yeah?"

"Stay." He lets out a sigh but still walks over to the cornucopia to stand guard. The rest of us grab our weapons of choice, some torches, and then head towards the smoke. Glimmer, who is walking next to me, reaches over and grabs my hand intertwining her fingers with mine. I look over at her to give her a wicked grin. This seems to encourage her because she then proceeds to pull me to the front of our pack making sure to 'accidentally' bump into Clove and District 4.

"Do you think it's Katniss, Cato?" questions Marvel cutting between Glimmer and I.

"No, she's not that thoughtless," comments Lover Boy.

"Yeah, don't be an idiot!" Glimmer says shoving Marvel into Lover Boy, whose legs get twisted with Marvel's and he ends up skidding across the ground. When Lover Boy stands up he has scrapes all across his arms and he can't quite stand on his left leg. He also must have hit his head because there is already a bruise forming, but no one pays attention to him.

Marvel then proceeds to shoot Glimmer a malicious glare, but she ignores her brother and takes hold of my hand again.

"Quiet!" whispers Clove, who I had nearly forgotten about. Up ahead of us is a small clearing where there is a fire with a girl huddled extremely close to it. I get everybody into a huddle and tell them my plan of attack. Everyone, except Glimmer who is reluctant to leave my side, eagerly agrees and get into positions.

"Help!" cries Lover Boy running towards the girl. She jumps up at the sudden noise, but does nothing to defend herself. "They're coming! Run!" Lover Boy screams at the girl. Finally she turns to run, but it's too late. We are completely surrounded around her and there is no place for her to go.

"Well, hello," says Glimmer who is now directly in front of the girl. Her face is an emotionless mask as she steps even closer to the girl so that there are only inches between them. She then whispers something to the girl causing her eyes to widen.

Then Glimmer slightly nods her head and I toss her my knife, which she catches with one hand and in a single move thrusts it in to the girl's stomach.

Glimmer laughs psychotically as the girl crumbles to the ground.

"We better get out of here so they can take her," I announce to the rest of my group. As we walk our group naturally falls into a pattern: Glimmer and I in front (hands linked together yet again), behind us are Clove who is next to District 4, behind them is Lover Boy, and bringing up the rear (and making sure Lover Boy doesn't try anything) is Marvel, who is still fuming about Glimmer and I.

"We should see if there are any other tributes hanging around before we head back," suggests District 4. _This is where I realize that I still don't know the new girl's name, but 'District 4' is good enough._

"Sounds good to me," I agree with her and everyone else nods in agreement like sheep. But when no one is look Glimmer gives me a heated look and then punches my arm (which I of course don't feel because of my armor) and this time Glimmer doesn't yell despite the look of momentary pain that crosses her face.

"What? You know I love you," I smile putting my arm around her shoulder and I can just imagine back home the crowd is gasping at this comment that I say without batting an eye.

"Shouldn't there have been a cannon shot?" asks Marvel suddenly appearing next to us. Our group comes to a halt as a short argument breaks out on whether or not the girl is dead.

"We're wasting time! I'll go finish her and let's move on!" Lover Boy announces sharply shutting the rest of us up.

The moment he is out of earshot, Clove complains "Why don't we just kill him already?"

"Not yet, we still need to find Katniss—" and a cannon goes off. _One point for Lover Boy._

Glimmer starts laughing manically and Marvel looks at her nervously. And then she starts running through the woods before I even realize what's happening I am running too. But Marvel, Clove, and District 4 stay behind waiting for Lover Boy, I assume.

Glimmer starts screaming excitedly about twelve dead and eleven left, all the while picking up speed. For a while I let her run just out of my grasp, but eventually I realize that we need to get back to the cornucopia at some point, so I speed up and tackle her to the ground.

"Cato!" she screams struggling under my weight but still smiling.

I lean in close, "If I let you go, will you run away?"

She blinks and quits fighting me, so I roll myself away from her to stand up. Then I offer her my hand to pull her to her feet and once she's standing she doesn't let go of me. The two of us start walking back the way we came from and I notice the sky is already starting to darken. _How long were we running for?_

"You should've kissed me," Glimmer whispers under her breath and I pull her to a stop wearing a fake look of confusion. She rolls her eyes at me and tries to keep walking. But again I stop her, and this time I pull her in and kiss her on the side of the mouth.

She gives me a smirk and says, "I'm gonna kill you one day."

"I know."

**~theeShadyLady~**

**_A/N- Please review; even if you despise this story tell me why (so I can make it better!) Thanks everyone!_**


	6. Gold of a Different Kind

**_A/N- Hello everyone! Well, I accidentally labeled this story as 'M' instead of 'T' and have been denying most of the fanfic world the presence of this story! But don't worry I have fixed it (and my other mislabeled stories.) So here Chapter 6 of my now appropriately labeled fic._**

**_((DISCLAIMER: I do not own The Hunger Games.))_**

CHAPTER 6: "Gold of a Different Kind"

As we arrive at our camp the Panem anthem starts playing. "Where have you two been?" Clove angrily asks running up to us.

I shrug my shoulders. "We just want for a run."

"You've been gone _all_ day!"

"Did anything happen while we were gone?" Glimmer cuts in.

"Well, no. But—"

"Then _why_ are you freaking out at us?!" _Nice._

Clove huffs, turns on her heel, and then goes back to standing guard.

"Only one death today," announces Lover Boy as the sky goes dark. He has an odd smile on his face that makes me want to punch him until it disappears. But just then Lover Boy rolls over and sees me glaring at him, which wipes the smile off his face. And I guess that will have to do, for now.

I lie on my side facing away from Glimmer, who has decided that she is allowed to sleep beside me now, and try to sleep. After a few agonizing minutes, I realize that sleep will not be joining me tonight. I sigh, flip over onto my back, and watch the imitation stars make their way across the sky.

At some point on the night Glimmer starts snoring and the noise that comes from this girl is enough to make me want to rip my own ears off.

"I can't take it," I grumble in an angry whisper scooting away from her.

"Cato? Is that you?" I hear Clove murmur.

"No," I reply sarcastically.

"I need to talk to you," I am caught off guard by the way she says this because it's not the usual spiteful tone that she normally talks to me with.

"Yeah, hold on."

I stand a few feet in front of where she is seated. "I don't bite, you can sit down." I raise my eyebrow at her to remind her of the time she was in a competition with Comet. "That was one time!" She shrieks loudly then clamps her hand over her own mouth for a second. "And it wasn't even that hard, he was being dramatic," she finishes in a whisper.

I sit down next to her. "So what did you need to talk about that couldn't wait until morning?"

"I was just wondering why you like Glimmer so much."

"I don't," I say plainly.

"You liar! You said you loved her!"

I am not quite sure why she's acting this way. Glimmer said she would explain this to her. Maybe she forgot. "After the interviews," I start explaining from the beginning hoping to give the cameras time to switch to someone else, "Cliff and I met up with Glimmer's mentor to tell her about his plan to win us all more sponsors. And once they decided what to do they called Glimmer in to explain their idea to her. They thought that if Glimmer and I pretend to have fallen in love during our time at the Capitol, the sponsors would be less interested in the Lover Boy and Katniss Everdeen, and would again be interested in us."

"Wouldn't it have been easier, and smarter, to have picked me?" asks Clove in a way that makes her sound hurt.

"Well, yeah, a lot easier. But when Cliff told his idea to Talia they realized it would never work because you hate me so much." I pause. "It was actually Talia's idea for me to pick Glimmer."

"I don't hate you," Clove says looking me in the eyes. "I... well... I kind of, might be, sort of in love... with you."

I don't know what to say, I just stare blankly past her into the darkest part of the woods. After a long time I finally manage to ask, "What? ... But you hate me."

"No, I hate that you never pay attention to me... All the extra practices I signed up for, all the times I volunteered to spar in front of our training classes, everything. It was all my attempt to try to impress you. But you never even gave me a second look."

"But I was impressed."

"No you weren't."

"I really was. I just didn't want to show it. I thought everyone else would see it as weakness... And I actually wanted to pick you. Not Glimmer."

"Really?"

"Yes really. And if it really comes down to it, I'll choose to save you." I reply hinting to the rumor of the rule change of one male and one female victor Cliff was telling me about. "Now, why don't you go rest, I'll take over watch. We got a big day of Kat hunting tomorrow." The way she laughs at this stupid pun makes me realize everything she was just telling me is the truth.

She shakes her head. "Go back to sleep, Cato." I obey without argument because truthfully I'm starting to finally feel tired.

"I'm just saying you two are weirdly close for a brother and sister!" I wake up to District 4 screaming.

"No, we're not!" Glimmer argues getting off her brother's lap. _Yeah, too close._ Even Marvel looks uncomfortable. "Cato!" squeals Glimmer throwing herself into my arms apparently just noticing me and forgetting her fight with District 4.

Out of the corner of my eye I see Clove roll her eyes and I wink at her behind Glimmer's back.

"So Cato, Lover Boy was just wondering what the plan is for today," comments Marvel interrupting the momentary love triangle.

"What? Is Lover Boy too good to talk to me himself now?" I reply in a mocking tone.

"No, I was just pointing out—"

"Oh, shut it, Marvel!" snaps Clove.

I glance over at her but she just shrugs as I free myself from Glimmer's grip. Who huffs at me and insists upon draping herself on my left arm and shoulder while I speak. "Today, we have two priorities. And they are to find and then kill Katniss Everdeen. And to do that," I smile walking over to Lover Boy, "we are going to search every inch of the area around the lake, thanks to the tip from Lover Boy." And with that I 'pat' him on the back once in a way that looks friendly, but is meant to hurt. "And if we don't find her, it's your head." I whisper in his ear.

We take a few minutes to gather our weaponry and then silently make our way over to the lake, again leaving Ryland behind to guard our remaining supplies.

"Should we split up to cover more ground?" Lover Boy questions me.

"I call Cato!" yells Glimmer laughing.

"No, we are going to stay together so we don't miss anything." _Splitting up was actually a decent idea, but I can't let Lover Boy start thinking he's smart. _We search along the closest bank of the lake and find nothing, of course. We slowly walk the edge of the shore that has some rock formations on it.

"Look a cave!" yells Glimmer running ahead of everyone, the other two girls are close on her heels. Lover Boy is behind us still limping from his fall the other day.

"I heard you talking to Clove last night," announce Marvel nonchalantly.

"And?" I pretend not to care.

"You shouldn't mess with Glimmer like that."

"She agreed to it and so did her mentor, so I really don't think you have too much—"

"That's because her mentor doesn't know what's wrong with her!" he hisses through his teeth.

"There's nothing wrong with her. I mean just look at her." I say allowing myself a moment to watch Glimmer.

"Ugh, no! That's my sister! _I mean_ she isn't right up there." Marvel says motioning to his head. "She gets confused easily."

"She doesn't seem confused to me." I reply defensively.

"Are you sure? Ask her if she remembers you're only pretending to be in love with her. After that ask her if she knows where she is. Or who I am. THAT'S why she was hanging on me this morning, she thought I was you." Marvel is in full-on monologue mode now, "Sometimes she can go days without getting confused and it's like there's nothing wrong with her. But on her bad days it can happen every hour. And I have to constantly remind her what's going on when nobody is paying attention. That's why she freaked out when she didn't see me at the cornucopia that first day."

"Was she born like that?"

"No," he sighs looking across the lake, "during one of her sparring session she got hit in the head pretty hard. And even since then she's been this way."

"Oh," I reply quietly thinking about some of the things that have happened to me. "Does she ever blackout?"

Marvel gives me a long sideways glance. "No... why?"

"No reason." I look away thinking of how to change the topic, "I guess it's lucky you got reaped the same year she did."

"I volunteered—"

"I see you two are working hard," say Lover Boy slowly passing us.

Just the sound of his voice makes me see red and I all I want to do is hurt him. But I can't do that, not yet, but pushing him in the water won't be too bad. And just as I reach out to shove him down, "There she is!" yells Clove.

I look up to see the flash of color that is Katniss Everdeen sprinting through the water to get away from us. The five of us are close enough that there is no way for her to outrun us, especially since I notice she has an injured leg. _This is almost too easy._ Soon I am at the head of our packing and am already closing in on Katniss.

Once we are in the woods though it's a different story, she is harder to keep track of; weaving in between trees and blending in with the dark colors. Not to mention the smoke that wasn't noticeable to us until now. I can hear everyone behind me coughing and gasping for breath. And even I have to admit I'm not feeling so hot either. Which eventually causes me to lose track of her for a single moment and when I see her again she is scrambling up one of the trees. She doesn't stop until she's half way up the tree. _You've got to be kidding me._

*****"How's everything with you?" she calls down after surveying the six of us.

I find myself shocked by her reaction to our presence, but I don't miss a beat. *****"Well enough. Yourself?"

*****"It's been a bit warm for my taste," she's says in a light voice, *****"The air's better up here. Why don't you come up?"

She must hear us coughing; I try to slow down my breathing to control my smoke intake. *****"Think I will." I reply reaching up to grab the closest branch but instead of a branch I end up with Glimmer's bow. I'm annoyed but I take a deep breath and try not to show it. "Thanks babe, but *****I'll do better with my sword," I say pushing the bow away.

I reach my hand up yet again this time successfully taking hold of a branch. This must scare little Katniss Everdeen, because she climbs even higher up the tree. As I pull myself up with one arm reaching for another branch with the other I can already tell that I'm not going to make it up very high. By the time I reach the third branch it is starting to bow beneath my weight. I quicken my pace up the tree, but that doesn't help, at around the sixth or seventh branch I hear a cracking sound. Panic runs through me because I am relatively high at this point and falling would most likely do some damage. _I can't climb down because I'll look weak and going higher would make my fall even worse._ So, I choose what seems to be the lesser of the two evils and push myself up the tree even farther.

I make it four more branches, but the moment I took hold of the fifth one and put my weight on it the branch snaps. I feel myself plummeting down and a scream tries to escape from my mouth but I bite down on my bottom lip and refuse to let it. I probably don't fall for very long, but it seems like forever because on the way down I hit every branch that I use to climb up with the full weight of my body. The last one I manage to grab hold of, for a moment, but I still end up landing on my back with a loud thud.

For a moment I worry that I died because my eyes won't open and I can't move. However I soon realize my eyes are open, but Glimmer is hovering over me so close to my face that she is blocking most of the light and after I push her away I see the reason I can't move is because Clove, Marvel, and District 4 are also huddled over me. I wiggle myself away from them and force myself to my feet. I'm shaky from the fall and my vision is fuzzy but I look up to see Katniss Everdeen laughing at me from the tree.

I start yelling words that the Capitol will definitely bleep out, spitting blood as I go. And as I'm yelling them, I start wondering why the Capitol chooses to bleep out curse words. _I mean they are watching us fight to the death, not only that, but they're also betting on it. So, what's the harm in them hearing a few choice words? ... That doesn't matter you idiot, snap out of it!_ I stop screaming in time to see Glimmer climbing up the tree. I want to warn her to come back down, but I don't because while I'm looking up I feel Clove sidestep over and press herself against my side.

"Maybe she'll fall," Clove whispers in my ear in a low, sinister voice, "and then you can be with me."

Just then I hear one of the tree branches cracking and I feel my stomach flip with genuine worry. I don't look up afraid to see the girl I'm supposed to be in love with fall. And thankfully she doesn't. When I see her feet gently touch the ground out of the corner of my eye, I breath I sigh of relief.

"Damn," Clove curses under her breath as she moves away from me.

"We're you worried about me?" Glimmer asks taking hold of my hand. I kiss the corner of her mouth in reply. She then pulls her bow off her shoulder, whips around, and fires an arrow at Katniss Everdeen. She misses by a long shot. After three shots, one of them lands within an arm's reach of Katniss and she takes it and waves it at us. I let out an exasperated sigh and I feel the urge to strangle somebody. The closest person to me is Glimmer, but I can't kill her because that would definitely lose me _all_ of my sponsors.

"What are we going to do?" growls Clove.

"Calm down, Buttercup," I tease. And for this I receive a look of pure rage that sends chills up my spine (in a shocked yet pleased way). "Maybe District 4 can climb up there." I look over at her.

"I have a name—"

"So you think I'm bigger than her?" Glimmer cries in a hurt voice. Clove snickers at this and I shoot her the same look she gave me.

"You're more... muscular," I reply nervously.

*****"Oh, let her stay up there. It's not like she's going anywhere," Lover Boy points out. And as much as I hate him, this comment thankfully makes everyone shut up about the entire conversation, which I'm thankful for.

We start setting up for the night, and by that I just mean fighting over who wants to sleep where. And then realizing, thanks to the growling of all our stomachs, that none of us have eaten at all today.

"Did any of you geniuses think to bring food?" Most of the group looks around in a panic, but Lover Boy and District 4 (who I still haven't bothered to learn the name of) pull off the backpacks I didn't notice they were wearing.

"Crackers," coughs District 4 tossing the package across the ground for all of us to see.

"Bread," answers Lover Boy doing the same.

"Jerky."

"Apples."

"Some type of cheese... I think."

"More bread," announces Lover Boy setting down to small packages. _I'm beginning to think that boy has a thing for bread, why didn't he bring water or something useful?_

"Aww, that looks so good!" squeals Glimmer reaching forward to grab three of the apples. The rest of us follow her lead and start stuffing ourselves to make up for lost calories. We polish off over half of the supplies before we're full and the anthem begins. Exhausted from our adrenaline running out, all the food we ate, and all the smoke we inhaled it's a struggle to stay awake. Thankfully it's a short death recap (being that there was no deaths today) and all we have left to do is to decide who is going to have first shift of night watch.

"I will," volunteers Lover Boy as soon as the subject comes up. Marvel, Glimmer, Clove, and I all give him a 'that's-not-going-to-happen look' and he puts his hands up defensively. "Never mind."

"_I_ will," Marvel corrects him. "We can't have you suddenly deciding to switch sides on us now, can we?"

"Guess not," smirks Lover Boy.

"I don't know about you all," District 4 half-says, half-yawns, "but now that that's settled I am going to sleep."

The rest of agree with varying yeses and head nods, then stretch out in our areas across the ground (Glimmer laying as close to me as she can manage). And my eyes close on what will hopefully be an uneventful night and open into a dream different than the dream I have been having for years.

I dream it's the last day of the 74th Hunger Games. Glimmer, Clove, Marvel, and everyone else are dead. Except me... and Katniss Everdeen. We are staring at each other maliciously deciding just what move to make, she lunges at me. I easily take my sword and stab her through the heart. And the moment my blade touches her, a cannon goes off and there is announcement saying I've won. The sound of an invisible crowd screaming wildly fills my ears. And before I know it I am walking down one of the streets of 2, through a crowd of people chanting my name and throwing white roses at my feet. Now they are throwing money. And gold. I see the gold piling up around me and it hurts when it hits me. It's hitting me a lot. And I don't hear my name anymore, I hear buzzing. It's a metallic sort of sound. And it's coming from the gold!

I wake up. And I'm still surrounded by the buzzing gold. But it's a different kind of gold...

**~theeShadyLady~**

**A/N- ****_What you ask? Glato AND Clato IN THE SAME FIC?! Yes, that just happened. :D_**

*** means a direct quote from The Hunger Games written by Suzanne Collins.**


	7. Live to Die Another Day

**_A/N- I cannot even explain how much writer's block this chapter caused me... but finally here it is, Chapter 7, completely finished. :D_**

**_((DISCLAIMER: I do not own The Hunger Games.))_**

CHAPTER 7: "Live to Die Another Day"

"Tracker Jackers!" screams Clove not bothering to wait for us as she runs back through the woods. My eyes flit around trying to make sense of the situation. I see Glimmer's sleeping bag now has a crushed nest that must belong to the Tracker Jackers on it and right next to it there is a swarm of the metallic bugs. From the center of the swarm I hear a high-pitched mangled scream. It takes me a moment, but I end up matching the scream to the girl I pretend to love. Once I realize this, my first instinct is to help her but in the same moment I realize it's too late for that. So, I just stand still frozen from shock.

_Why am I not getting stung?_ I start to wonder, my mind still not registering that I should be reacting to everything going on. _That's when I start noticing something that sounds like rain on one of the metal roofs in District 2._ I look down at myself and see a volley of Tracker Jackers throwing themselves at my body only to bounce off my armor and fall to the ground. And as soon as I look down it's as if the Tracker Jackers suddenly realize my face is exposed, because a group of them rush up, heading straight for it. I swat them away and finally start running, no longer worried about what's happening to anyone else.

I rush through the woods heading for the lake, hoping the water will stop the attack. Once or twice I think that it would be okay to stop, but then I am proved wrong by the sound of buzzing close behind me. Once I'm within a few feet of the lake, I lunge forward holding my breath. I plunge into the water, which is astonishingly cold and the shock of it causes me to suck in water. I struggle to keep calm gasping for air only to take in more water. Finally after what seemed like an eternity, but couldn't have been more than a few minutes, I bob up to the surface and after recovering from my struggle realize there aren't any Tracker Jackers near the lake.

As I make my way to the edge of the water, I notice that I must have jumped quite a ways into the lake because I have a good amount of distance to swim back. I look around once I reach the shore and don't see any of my allies near me. I decide to head back to the tree and see who we've lost today. Halfway back to the tree and I can see a body. I feel my breathing quicken and I have to fight off the urge to run in the opposite direction. I keep going on glancing at the number on the jacket as I tread past. District 4._ Why don't I know her name?_ I wonder to myself, realizing how horrible it is to not even know the name of a lost ally. _It's_ _not like I can ask anyone now. I guess I'll just have to wait until the Recap of the Games during my interview after I become Victor._

As I look away from District 4's body, I see another one up ahead. Even from here I can see the unmistakable blonde hair of my supposed-to-be love. And I feel a knot forming in my throat. _You didn't even love her!_ I scream in my mind trying to stay emotionless. But that just makes it worse. I take a deep breath and choke back a sob, because it was wrong the way I played her. Even before I talked to Marvel I knew there was no way that Glimmer was that good of an actress. She really loved me. And I honestly couldn't have cared less about her. Until now. Now that she's gone. _Cato! Focus!_ My logical mind takes over again. _This is game. You have to play it to win it. So shut up and keep going._

Ahead of me I see somebody walking. "Marvel?" I call, guessing at who it is. I get a little closer and I'm wrong. It's Lover Boy. He's not moving though. I think he's talking to someone, so he must not have heard me. _Wait... did he just say get out of here? And is that Katniss?!_ I'm near enough now to know that I'm right. And I can see Katniss turn stumbling away, I'm pretty sure I even see a few stings on her. _Less work for me._

A little to the left of my feet I see a knife on the ground that one of us must have dropped in the chaos and silently pick it up. Then I press the very tip of it to his back and say, "Well, hello there, Lover Boy."

He turns around with a smug look plastered on his face. "You'll never beat her."

_Not again._ I think when I realize that I'm back at the cornucopia and there is a group of people clustering around me asking all sorts of questions. Nothing is registering; no words; no faces. The only thing I can tell is that I am out of breath and am holding a very bloody knife. I feel chills run up and down my spine, causing me to drop the knife. _I killed Lover Boy. I actually killed him. No, I don't remember hearing a canon shot. Yeah, but you don't remember anything after seeing Lover Boy talking to Katniss._

"Cato! You're not even listening to us._"_

"Oh, what?" I ask, still not really listening.

"Is that Katniss' blood?"

"Lover Boy's. He, uh, he let her escape. Told her to run. Who's left?" I attempt to change the subject.

"Me," replies Clove, "Marvel and Ryland."

_Not so good._ "Hunting, anyone?" I change the subject again, still not able to focus.

"Sounds good," agrees Marvel. Clove nods as well. Ryland doesn't even bother to answer; instead he walks over to the Cornucopia and sits on the edge of the mouth of it.

"So do you love me yet?" questions Clove as we walk through the woods hoping to stumble upon a lost tribute.

"Let the man grieve," Marvel answers before I can. We walk in complete silence the rest of the way, not finding a single tribute, which is to be expected at this point in the game. However this leaves me with time to think about what I've done. _Lover Boy... What was his actual name? It was some type of food... Oh, Pita, that's what it was... Who names their kid after bread, probably a baker... Well, who kills a kid named after bread? A mental case, that's who! He wasn't even that bad of a kid. I mean sure he couldn't lie and had an irritating face. But he was just protecting the girl he thought he loved. Maybe he did love her. I don't know. He did sacrifice himself for her. I wouldn't have done that for Glimmer. What's wrong with me?_

"Cato?"

"What!?" I respond loudly to Clove.

"You alright over there?"

"Yeah, why wouldn't I be?"

"You just haven't seemed right since we got back to camp... Don't worry about it, tomorrow will find her. I'm sure of it." She smiles a smile that is supposed to reassure me, but it doesn't work.

I can't think of how to respond and thankfully the anthem starts playing and she won't be able to hear me anyway. It seems too early to start the Recap; I feel like the Sun has only been up for a few hours at most. The four of us look up in the sky anyway and see District 4's picture followed by Glimmer's. But that's it. No Lover Bo— I mean, Pita. _I didn't kill him! ... Oh no, I didn't kill him._

As the anthem closes the Recap, I can see in the glow of the projection that all three of my remaining allies have wide-eyed stares locked onto me.

"Why wasn't _he_ on the Recap, Cato?" Clove asks me through what I imagine are tightly gritted teeth.

Well, I can't say I didn't kill him. And I can say the truth which is that I don't really know what happened to him. So I go with my usual plan; lie. "I know where I cut him. I cut him right where it would be the most painful; where it would make it impossible for him to move or even stop the bleeding. He'll be dead soon enough. And all the time he'll be wishing it would just end."

The three of them nod in a way that would make people think I was asking if that was okay by them. So the next thing I say, I do ask as a question, just so they'll feel important. "Well, I'm tired. Anyone else feel like it's a good time to sleep?"

"I'll guard," volunteers Marvel as the rest of us prepare for bed. I make the smart decision of taking off my boots and socks before I go to bed and end up revealing feet that have been irritated so much by wet shoes that they are covered in rub spots and smeared blood.

"That's disgusting," groans Clove looking away as she rummages through a backpack. "Put this on them," she orders, throwing a can of some type of ointment and a pair of fresh socks at me. After doing so, I realize just how bad my feet hurt, by the fact that they feel so much better already.

I go to lie down again but Clove stops me, "You know there's blood all over your shirt, right?"

I look down and see large red-maroon colored stains on my shirt. I can't even stand to look at it and I rip my shirt off throwing it as far from me as possible.

"There's some on your pants too," warns Marvel. But that I'm just going to have to deal with.

"Wait! Do you hear that?" I ask referring to a quiet humming noise.

"No," both Marvel and Ryland reply.

"Kind of, yeah..." says Clove with her head cocked to one side. "It's coming from over by you." She scoots closer. "I think whatever it is, it's in your sock!"

I drop to the ground and pull both feet close to my face. It is coming from my sock! I unroll the edge of it and out pops a Tracker Jacker. And if metal bugs have emotions, this one was not a happy one. Clove screamed and it rushed for the first thing it saw. My face. Before I am able to react I feel a prick on the bottom of my chin and then another one by my eye. This time I can react and I smash my hand against my face, but not before the stupid thing turns around and is able to sting my hand. _Apparently Iron skin doesn't protect hands either._

Thankfully the bug is dead and can do no more damage. But I am _not_ okay. My face and my hand burn with an insane pain that's feels like concentrated fire.

"C-C-C-ATTT-O!?" a girl voice echos in and out of my mind, I don't know who it is. A hand touches my face. It's a weird hand blue and swollen. It hurts when it touches me. "Demon!" I scream. The hand pulls away. My vision comes and goes in flashes. My legs give in. I hear a snapping sound. _I'm broken._ There are people touching me. They're not people. They're hurting me. Burning me with their touch. _What's on top of me, they're burying me. What are you putting on me? Is that President Snow? Who's he? Him, of course. _He's laughing._ He's evil. Die!_

And with the words _TrrAaaCkar Jackkar Vennomm _buzzing in my mind, I too die. At least for a while. Until I wake and rejoin these demons.

**~theeShadyLady~**


End file.
